Glass Blowing

Glass Blowing
Sunday, September 23, 2007

Today we went to Kurashiki with some of our teachers to make drinking glasses. When we arrived we went into a little workshop place and met the teacher. He showed us a lot of different styles that we could choose from. There were many different sizes and shapes. We also chose the colors and the pattern. I chose pink and black and a random pattern.

These are jars of the colors that the glass was rolled in.
The hot, firey oven.
I'm modeling the latest in glass blowing fashion.
I went first while the teachers and Tara documented this experience through cameras and video. The glass making was such a cool experience. I had to blow through a long metal pole a few times to help give it a shape and open up. After every time the man would put it back in the fire. I got to turn it once and I was terrified that it was going to fall off of the pole and into the fire. The fire was so hot that it kept the glass melted and pliant. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Rolling the glass.
After I did the glass blowing, I had to roll the pole while the man put the pattern glass on. That was tricky and I had to be really fast about it. I rolled the pole back and forth until the pattern was what I wanted then he cut the class (yes, cut it) and we stuck it back in the fire to melt again.
It was SO hot.
My glass, as a baby.
Glass blowing again.
Next up? Putting a bottom on the glass. He pulled out a glob of glass and rolled it in the black stuff and stuck it on. Next we fired it some more and then he rolled the pole and smashed the bottom flat with a wet piece of rubber until it was nice and flat.
My glass, as a teenager.
Cutting the glass...
After that it was time to open the glass up so that it would hold something. First he had to attach it to another pole and then I had to cut it off of the first pole. That was scary because I thought I was going to break my glass. I had to hit it with a little file but it didn’t break. Thank goodness!

Into the fire again (are you seeing a pattern?). Afterwards I used some tool that looked like pliers to open the mouth of the glass. That took a little while since we had to put it back in the fire repeatedly.

Finally I had the finished product. It was a little wobbly shaped but it was just beautiful! It went into the cooler where it will slowly come down from 500 degrees!

Tara made a glass too. Actually, she made three because the guy dropped the first one and it melted on the floor (bizarre to watch) and the second broke when the mad took it out of the fire (just plain aggravating to watch). We were all so hot and just wanted to get out of that workshop but her glasses were getting to the very end and then becoming disasters! The third time was a charm though.

To see my glass as an adult, visit me at Christmas. :)